Felly, Lonely Boy and Sightseeing

Big news out of the Exit 43 Productions camp this morning!

- The score for Felly has wrapped, and is now moving into the final stages of production. Stay tuned as the festival submission process gets underway!

- Lonely Boy will be released digitally on September 16. You can preorder your copy on the Exit 43 Website.

Also, my new record Sightseeing Through Whiskey has been released worldwide! You can download your copy on iTunes by clicking here!

 

New Album Release Date Set

Sightseeing Through Whiskey, my first studio album in four years, has finally gotten a release date! It will be available worldwide on iTunes on Tuesday, August 12, 2014.
 

Sightseeing was recorded off and on and in between film projects over the last sixteen months. The result is a collection of thirteen powerpop mini-epics that I can't wait to share with the world.

 

'The Bus Driver' Takes Off

I had the honor of being invited to spend a few days on set with the amazing cast and crew of my latest feature film, The Bus Driver. Shot on location in Agua Dulce, CA, the entire production team is thrilled to begin post-production. Trust me when I say that this is going to be and extremely fun score to write!

 

This intense action thriller - starring Steve Darren (Hollow Creek), Steven Chase (How Sweet It Is), Michael Bailey Smith (The Hills Have Eyes), Holly Elissa (Whistler) and Oscar nominee Robert Forster (Jackie Brown) - is due for an early 2015 release.

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HSII Music Shortlisted for Academy Awards

The entire How Sweet It Is production team and myself are proud to have been selected as seminfinalists in the two music categories at the upcoming 86th Academy Awards!

 

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

"Try" from 'How Sweet It Is' - written by Matt Dahan

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:

"The Bite of our Lives" from 'How Sweet It Is' - written by Matt Dahan

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:

'How Sweet It Is' by Matt Dahan

 

HSII: Oscar and Grammy Eligible

It's official - the soundtrack and film score for How Sweet It Is has qualified for Oscar and Grammy competition! The tremendous support I've received so far has been overwhelming, and I'm crossing my fingers that we can take the music to the next level.

 

Thanks to Examiner for a great write up announcing our entries, and thank you guys for your continued support! Read our write up in the Examiner by clicking HERE - stay tuned for more news as awards season approaches!

 

Borderlife and Blu-Ray

Lonely Boy was welcomed to it's eighth festival this past weekend! The Borderlife Film Festival in Denver, Colorado brought the LBC in with a screening and Q&A. After an amazing weekend, our film recieved the Audience Choice Award!

 

As our director Dale Fabrigar said, "I am thrilled that [the audience] connected with the film in a powerful way. May we all continue to explore life and inspire change - dare to LIVE BOLD!" Thank you for having us, Denver!

 

In other news, the eagerly anticipated Blu-ray of How Sweet It Is has finally been released! You can find it (as well as the DVD) on Amazon.com.

 

Lonely Boy Rolls On

Lonely Boy keeps on rolling! All of us in the LB crew are thrilled to announce that we will be screening twice at the Cincinnati Film Festival! Our screening times are:

 

Saturday, September 7th - 5:15pm

Friday, September 13th - 7:15pm

 

For tickets and additional information, follow the bouncing ball to the Cincinnati Film Festival website.We hope to see you there, cos Cinci, we're coming for you!

 

Two New Projects

My friends and colleages at Factory Entertainment Group are teaming up again! I'm thrilled to announce that I will be composing the music for the Factory productions Death House and Paulie - both directed by How Sweet It Is mastermind Brian Herzlinger - anticipated to be released in 2014.

 

Death House is being billed as 'The Expendables' of horror, due to its astounding cast of horror movie ledgends: Robert Englund (Nightmare On Elm Street), Gunnar Hansen (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Bill Moseley (The Devil's Rejects), and Doug Bradley (Hellraiser) are all said to be joining the team, instantly making it a force to be reckoned with. I couldn't be more excited to contribute to a film of this magnitude. It is due to start filming in Spring 2014.

 

Paulie is a television pilot about a retired mob boss who tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Starring Paul Sorvino (Goodfellas, How Sweet It Is), Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites, Ratatouille), Michael Madsen (Resevoir Dogs), and Max Burkholder (Parenthood).

 

'How Sweet' Available on iTunes!​

The soundtrack for How Sweet It Is has been put up on iTunes! I started working on the songs for this movie-musical almost two years ago, so I'm really happy I can finally share it with you now. The album includes eleven songs performed by the awesomely talented HSII cast:

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01. Overture [vocals by Matt Dahan]
02. Variations on a Chocolate Theme
03. Please Give Me 50 Bucks (So I Can Buy Crack) [vocals by Jonathan Slavin]
04. Well-Timed Choreography
05. Walls (Ethan’s Audition) [vocals by Erich Bergen]
06. Drunken Donuts [vocals by Joe Piscopo]
07. Welcome to Showbiz, Kid [vocals by Joe Piscopo]
08. There Was A Fire
09. The Bite of our Lives [vocals by Erich Bergen]
10. Try (How Sweet It Is) [vocals by Erich Bergen, Victoria Summer]
11. Walls (End Credits) [vocals by Matt Dahan]​

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It was a dream come true to work on a musical, and an enormous thank you goes out to the cast, crew, and producers who made it possible for this album to be available worldwide!​

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Check it out and let me know what you think, online today and in theaters, May 10th! How sweet it is, indeed!

 

'How Sweet' Release Set!​

After two LONG years of production, How Sweet It Is finally has a release date for select theaters! Eleven original songs and a supporting score blanket this movie-musical with about as much music as I could pack into it! It will be debuting in these select AMC theaters on May 10th:

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LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

AMC Norwalk 20 - 12300 E. Civic Center Dr, Norwalk, CA 90650

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NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

​AMC Loews Village 7 - 66 3rd Ave, New York, NY 10003

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ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY

AMC 20 Jersey Gardens - 651 Kapkowski Rd, Elizabeth, NJ 07201

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Award Winners!​

The month of April was a whirlwind for the Lonely Boy Crew, as we traversed the USA on the first wave of our Film Festival run. Six festivals and thirteen screenings later, we are thrilled to have been awarded the ​two awards from festival juries! What an amazing ride it has been!

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Palm Beach International Film Festival

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: Lonely Boy

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Louisiana International Film Festival​

BEST FIRST FEATURE: Lonely Boy

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All of us who are involved with this feature are beyond thrilled by the success Lonely Boy has experienced - and with even more festivals on the horizon, we can't help but hope that this is just the beginning! To all the cities, festivals, and audiences that took part in our screenings: THANK YOU!

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Lonely Boy Hits The Festival Circuit​

Lonely Boy's Film Festival Tour is about to kick into high gear! Over the past few weeks, our film has been accepted into FOUR additional amazing festivals: Palm Beach International, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Louisiana International, and Boston Independent!!!!!!

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Upcoming Lonely Boy screenings:

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Phoenix International Film Festival

04.05 - Scottsdale 101 Cinema #7 - 4:40 PM (tickets)

04.06 - Scottsdale 101 Cinema #2 - 9:00 AM (tickets)

04.07 - Scottsdale 101 Cinema #2 - 11:45 AM (tickets)

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Palm Beach International Film Festival

​04.06 - Frank Theaters - 2 PM (tickets)

04.10 - Muvico City Place - 6:45 PM (tickets)

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Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival

04.19 - St. Anthony Main Theatre #2 - 9:30 PM (tickets)​

04.20 - St. Anthony Main Theatre #5 - 3:15 PM (tickets)​

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Louisiana International Film Festival

04.21 - Old State Capitol - 1:30 PM (tickets)

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Boston Independent Film Festival

04.28 - Somerville Theater #4 - 5:30 PM (tickets on sale 4.10)

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Cinequest Success!

Lonely Boy took it to the house at Cinequest 23 this past week, rocking three packed screenings at the Camera 12 Cinemas in downtown San Jose! I attended the World Premiere / Q&A on March 2nd, and the crowd was absolutely electric. It's an absolute thrill to finally have our little-film-that-could out there in the world, and a HUGE congratulations are in order for everyone who is involved with the project. I have no doubt that even more amazing times will follow as the LBC (Lonely Boy Crew) hits the road this spring and rides the festival circuit across the country!

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In other news, the How Sweet It Is Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is getting closer to a stores! In advance of a limited theatrical release of our musical-comedy, eleven tracks have been put together onto an album to support the debut. Much, much more details to come!

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Phoenix!
The accolades for Lonely Boy continue to accumulate - I just got word that the Exit 43 Production can add PHOENIX FILM FESTIVAL​ to it's official list of laurels! Myself and the LB crew will be taking our film to the desert hot on the heels of our screenings in San Jose for CineQuest, and we couldn't be more thrilled to share it with the world!



​LB will be screening at the Harkins Scottsdale 101 Theaters at these times:

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Friday, April 5 at 4:40 PM

Saturday, April 6 at 9 AM

Sunday, April 7 at 11:45 AM

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Phoenix is one of my favorite cities, and I couldn't be happier for everyone involved in such a special production. Bravo, ladies and gentlemen!

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LB Accepted into CineQuest 2013!

I'm proud to announce that Lonely Boy, a film that I co-composed, is now an official selection into the 2013 CineQuest Film Festival in San Jose! The film is scheduled to have three screenings at the Camera 12 Cinemas in downtown San Jose at these times:

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Saturday, March 2 at 9:00 PM

Monday, March 4, 8:30 PM

Thursday, March 7, 1:30 PM

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***For tickets and additional information on the screenings, you can visit the Official Lonely Boy CineQuest Page.***

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I couldn't be happier for the talented and extremely dedicated cast and crew of Lonely Boy on this amazing achievement. A huge congratulations go out to director Dale Fabrigar, writer-producer-actor extraordinaire Alev Aydin, the wonderful production team at Exit 43, and my fellow composer Steven Roth.

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See you all in San Jose!

 

Happy New Year!
How Sweet It Is is on the cover of Pompano Today Magazine! Thanks for the amazing write up for our musical!



***Click here to see our write-up in Pompano Today!***​​​

 

HSII Warner Brothers Screening​

Warner Brothers Studios held an advance screening of How Sweet It Is for the cast, crew and friends of the production on their Los Angeles backlot tonight. It was a wonderful setting for a reunion of sorts, as the HSII family crammed into the screening room and watched the finished film for the first time.

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The audience was joined by the film’s stars Paul Sorvino, Michael Paré, Erich Bergen, and Louis Lombardi, and it absolutely couldn’t have gone any better! Having worked on the film for months after the cameras stopped rolling, I knew it backwards and forwards – but the combination of the audience’s laughter and seeing it up on the big screen made the experience as incredible as it was humbling. The producers at Factory Entertainment Group, as well as writer and director Brian Herzliner, deserve all the credit in the world for bringing us all together for an awesome night!

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The adventure continues for How Sweet! Stay tuned for more news!

 

HSII and LB Screenings

​​How Sweet It Is recently had a screening in Pompano Beach, Florida, and the outpouring of support has been amazing! Here are two reviews for the film, hot off the internet presses:

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​Pompano Today: http://tinyurl.com/a2mx7co

​Examiner.com: http://tinyurl.com/ctlct7v

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A Los Angeles screening is on the horizon soon - look forward to a flurry of news regarding HSII now that it's out there in the world. I couldn't be more excited for all of you to finally see what we've been working so hard for so long to achieve.

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Meanwhile, Lonely Boy​, the other feature I worked on for the past few months, completed it's cross-country journey and was recently screened in New York City. The LB crew are planning to take it through the festival route, so be prepared to hit the road even more with Lonely Boy! - - - MD​

 

How Sweet It Is: Official Trailer

​​The official trailer for 'How Sweet It Is', the movie-musical that I wrote the songs and score for, has just hit the web! Check it out on YouTube now, and stay tuned for more release details! - - - MD

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YouTube Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wDd3CV3Fw8&

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Beta

​​Welcome to mattdahan.com! I'm still working out bits and pieces of the design, but everything should be in it's right place in a matter of days. Here, you'll find the music from all of my songwriting and film composing adventures, as well as pictures and videos of everything in between to get you as close to the process as possible.

2012 has been a busy year thus far - I just recently finished the film score for the musical comedy How Sweet It Is, which will screen in Los Angeles in early November, and August saw the completion of the score for the independent dramedy Lonely Boy ​with my co-composer Steven Roth. It's been a whirlwind, but the last few months of this year promise to be just as exciting!

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​​More updates will come as things move along on mattdahan.com, but in the meantime you can check some of my songs and film cues on the ​MUSIC ​page, as well as all of my credits in both film and television in the CREDITS ​page. Stay tuned, and stay inspired! - - - MD